Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Margaret Lynn, CH DBE OStJ (née Welch; born 20 March 1917), widely known as "the Forces' Sweetheart", is an English singer of traditional pop, songwriter and actress, whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during the Second World War.

During the war she toured Egypt, India, and Burma as part of ENSA, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. The songs most associated with her are "We'll Meet Again", "The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England".

She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and the US and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" and her UK Number one single "My Son, My Son". Her last single, "I Love This Land", was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at age 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart, with We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn.

She released the album Vera Lynn 100 in 2017, to commemorate her centennial year, and it was a number 3 hit, making her the oldest recording artist in the world and first centenarian performer to have an album in the charts.

She has devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children, and breast cancer. She is held in great affection by veterans of the Second World War to this day and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century.

"We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 British song made famous by singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles. The song is one of the most famous of the Second World War era, and resonated with soldiers going off to fight and their families and sweethearts.

The song gave its name to the 1943 musical film We'll Meet Again in which Dame Vera Lynn played the lead role (see 1943 in music). Lynn's recording is featured in the final scene of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, and was also used in the closing scenes of the 1986 BBC television serial The Singing Detective. British director John Schlesinger used the song in his 1979 World War II film, Yanks, which is about British citizens and American soldiers during the military buildup in the UK as the Allies prepared for the D-Day Invasion.

During the Cold War, Lynn's recording was included in the package of music and programmes held in 20 underground radio stations of the BBC's Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS), designed to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack. Lynn sang the song in London on the 60th Anniversary of VE Day in 2005.